Re: New poll question? (Was Re: Pinsky poem in the Atlantic "Jar of -- Pens")

[kate -at- kathleen -dot- net]

Deborah wrote:
> As a technical writer, do people (coworkers, customers, 
> internal users, anyone) look to you as an expert on the 
> product you document? To what extent, and in what circumstances?
> 
> In your current job as a technical writer, what are you
> considered (by others) to be a Subject Matter Expert of?

Good question!

As a contractor/consultant, I'm not often perceived as a(n) SME of the 
products I document. But in my stints as a permanent employee, I have 
always filled that role within a relatively short amount of time at the 
company. Few other people (with the possible exception of the product 
managers) are in the position to be the kind of SME a (good) technical 
writer can be. For example, at any given company, I'm familiar enough with 
the engineers and what they're working on to be a good resource for 
non-techies to ask "Who's the right person to talk to about such-and-such?" 
Similarly, I'm plugged in to what sales and marketing are doing, and the 
engineering group occasionally wants to know about that -- I'm the perfect 
person to ask.

As a contractor, though, I find that my SME status typically extends only 
to writing and UI issues. There've been exceptions, and where I am now is 
-kind- of an exception (I've been here for about six weeks and am deeply 
familiar with the software and the project plan -- mostly because I've 
documented so many similar types of applications). But I certainly don't 
mind being the expert on UI -- just this morning, I helped fix a glaringly 
bad configuration screen that would surely have caused trouble later on.

I'm curious to read what others say on this subject.

- Kate O'


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